School spirit was wafting through the air Friday as students, faculty and staff descended on the LSUS Mall for the annual Spring Fling fair.
The celebration had the usual sights, sounds and smells – from the spice of the boiled crawfish to the thumping bass of the DJ booth to the inflatables for students to test their mettle.
But this festival had a little extra oomph – LSUS is celebrating record-breaking enrollment of more than 10,000 students for the first time in the university’s nearly 60-year history.
Campus and community members lined up in the shape of “10K” in an aerial drone photo (10,214 spring enrollment to be exact).
“This accomplishment belongs to every single person here,” LSUS Chancellor Dr. Robert Smith said to a cheering crowd. “The faculty and staff do such a fantastic job in recruiting our students and engaging and retaining those students.
“We have staff that maintain this beautiful campus while our supporters in the legislature and the community make it possible for our student to remain in college financially. And of course there’s you the student – all 10,000 of you. It’s a team effort, and I want to thank every one of you for helping us to meet this accomplishment.”
LSUS’s milestone is a result of growth on all fronts – undergraduate and graduate enrollment with additional gains in face-to-face and dual enrollment categories.
A multitude of student organizations came out en masse to encourage both current students and future students attending the New Student Orientation to get involved.
Greek organizations flashed their letters, academic organizations vied for student attention and different LSUS colleges and programs had plenty of information (and swag) to share.
LSUS student athletes were a visible bunch decked out in their sport’s uniforms and were avid competitors in the inflatable obstacle course.
The festival even had a sweeter taste this year with “10K enrollment record” sugar cookies from Auxiliary Services.
LSUS’s growth comes at a time when the majority of universities around the state and across the nation reported declines in enrollment in a recruiting landscape in which there are 1.5 million fewer college students than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We developed programs that our students want to take, and those programs are supportive of the workforce needs of this region,” Smith said. “But more than that, it’s the faculty and staff that are dedicated to facilitating the success for all of our students.”